Bubble Gum Kisses
CHAPTER 14

**Kapittel 14** ***Friso***

**"Who?"** Lucien's head suddenly emerged, taking a peek at Friso's locker, which led Saijou and Grey to take a look also. He immediately removed Toshiro's hand holding his and closed the locker shut. He was okay with people seeing what was inside the locker since the picture was glued on the end and was usually covered by his textbooks, but he forgot that he pulled all his books out, exposing it. He seethed, angry at himself. He didn't want anyone seeing the person in that picture, ever.

"The girl I met in the gas station. That's her," Toshiro said, looking at the three and pointing at the picture.

"What the hell?" Saijou gaped.

"Damn, no cap?" Gray asked, bewildered.

"That chick was pretty hot," Lucien licked his lips like a hungry wolf finally replaceing his prey. He was another version of Lazarus, a wolf, but hid in a sheep's clothing. Unlike them, who would immediately say yes to sex and bid farewells after, he liked to make things slow and long-lasting. He often made friends with his fuck buddies first before going to the next level.

Stone cold on his spot, Friso said the name he had never mentioned in years: "Vanessa?"

Toshiro shrugged and held his chin, thinking. "She did say her name's Van though." She's back?

An invisible, sharp needle was fired from nowhere and hit Friso's chest. Unconsciously, he stopped chewing his gum and loosened his tight grip on his bag's strap, feeling that he had lost all his strength after what Toshiro had said. She's back, for real? He badly wanted to hold his chinky-eyed friend's shoulders tightly and shake him for solid confirmation. He knew that his friends would never lie to him, especially if it were news about her, except for Toshiro since he was still new in the group and hadn't heard his story with her. The only girl in his life. His girl. His first heartbreak.

"Dude, you know her?" a voice asked, but he didn't know who owned it. Everything felt as if he was drowning in water.

The bell rang in a loud manner before he could open his mouth. He shook his head, wavering his thoughts off, and said, "Let's head to class," pulling his bag's strap before turning on his back, walking to his first class, leaving his friends dazed and Toshiro asking them how Friso knew the girl in the picture.

***"Promise me, "** he said while offering his pinky finger to the little girl, who was trying her hardest to create a sandcastle. He observed her. She looked indescribably adorable with those electric blue eyes, rosy cheeks, and pink, pouty lips. She looked much like a porcelain doll with her healthy, wavy blonde hair and milky-white skin. She was the little girl that everyone wanted to have, but he wanted to have her the most.*

*The girl refrained from what she was doing and faced him. "Promise you what?" she asked him, confusion laced in her voice and looking at him with innocence covering her eyes.*

*"That we'll marry, no matter what comes and tries to break us apart," he stated firmly, trying to pour all the embarrassment he was feeling by tightly gripping on the toy shovel he was holding for a long time with his other hand. He wanted to marry her badly but now was not the right time yet.*

*The girl placed a hand on her chin, her electric blue eyes looking at the sky as if she was thinking. "Does marrying you no matter what means we can be together forever?" she asked him, and he nodded eagerly. "Don't you want to be with me?" he asked, trying to put some slight pressure on her so she could hasten her decision. Even though he was still a child, he broadly understood things and applied them all the time.*

*"Of course I do!" she answered. He smiled in contentment. "Then promise me," he lifted his pinky to her face.*

*She covered her mouth, giggling. "Okay! I promise you, we will marry no matter what!" then she lifted a hand and knotted her pinky finger with his.* *Prrrrrrrrt!*

A loud whistle pulled Friso away from his endless reverie. He looked in the direction where the sound came from and realized it was from their Coach, who was marching towards him with the signature expression he wore every day. A red face with a huge frown.

"What on Earth is with you today, de Vries! You're not playing at your usual pace, and you should be on the way where the ball is leading. Not the other way around!" Coach Provido smashed his head with a newly bought newspaper. Having his senses finally awakened, Friso looked at the other side of the field and saw most of his teammates there, looking at him with weird expressions on their faces, wondering what had gotten into their Captain. He hung his head low in embarrassment before asking his coach, who was huffing fire from his nostrils, "May I take a break?" but before the coach could answer, he had already turned on his heel and left the field, leaving everyone dumbfounded. He never went back to the field again and spent most of his time in the locker room, taking a refreshing shower. He didn't know how to face the whole team after what happened. For the first time, their Captain, who was always active and attentive, had absent-mindedly played in the field. He groaned and smacked a quivering fist on the tiled wall, trying to kill the embarrassment that was invading his system.

"Fuck," he cursed.

He didn't know what he was feeling ever since Toshiro blurted out that he saw her. It meant that she was back. For the first time, Friso felt uneasy. He had been yearning for the news of her return for years, and it finally came. This was finally the time to make amendments to the pain he had caused her three years ago. He clenched his fist tighter. Three years ago.

Friso immediately shook his head, shaking the memory away from his mind. He didn't want to be reminded of what happened three years ago. The day when he caused her pain for the very first time. When he smashed the fragile porcelain doll that he had been adoring for years.

However, she got back at him, which caused his anger to surge. They were both tangled in a cold war wherein they tried to make each other jealous and angry by enmeshing themselves in a hormone-derived extravaganza of intimacy with other people.

He turned off the shower's knob and grabbed the towel hanging on the door, wrapping it on his slender waist. He inherited his father's gigantic height but never the bulky frame. He was muscular but slender. His mother said that he inherited it from her side, lean but built solid. He was fine with it, though, but he couldn't help himself but envy his father's buff figure sometimes. He opened the door and left the shower, treading to his locker with wet footsteps.

Once he reached his locker, he unlocked it and grabbed a few of his stored clothes, then closed it, which revealed the face of his Spanish comrade who had been waiting to talk to him for hours, Lazarus, "Yo," greeted the Hispanic teen with playfulness laced on his voice

"What do you want?" he glumly asked and turned on his back, preparing to wear his clothes. He took out his boxer shorts and wore them effortlessly with his towel stiffly wrapped around his waist.

"Man, you look fucked," his friend stated humorlessly. The atmosphere suddenly turned into something grave, urging Friso to hastily wear his clothes and leave. He only answered Lazarus' statement with a sigh as he took the towel off his torso. There it goes again, her.

"They told me what happened this morning. She's back?" Lazarus asked, but he did not answer. He kept on wearing the rest of his clothes.

"Look, I came here to confirm everything. Toshiro is too afraid to come near you because of what you've done this morning. Gray said it's fifty-fifty that she is back. Coincidences are freaky, and it might just be someone who looks like her. "Por favor, mi amigo. Don't just mope yet. I know that you have been going through things after she left, but if it is true that she has returned, then don't be like this. Explain yourself to her," just as Lazarus finished his speech, Friso just finished wearing his shirt and jacket. He grabbed his bag and faced his friend, his lips broken into a bittersweet smile, "Lunatic," he stated before leaving the locker room.

**Planning to get drunk,** he grabbed his wallet from his bag's pocket and opened it to check if he still had enough cash for this week. He didn't want to spend his credit cards on alcohol; his dad would kill him. He frowned, disappointed that his money was only enough for a few cans. He sighed. Maybe a few cans are enough to accompany him tonight.

"Good evening," the grocery store's cashier greeted him, and he only nodded in response before making his way to the spot where the drinks were usually stored. He had been familiar with this grocery shop ever since he started drinking. It was the only store that sold good beverages, probably because the owner drank a lot.

He was on his way to his destination when he felt that something bumped into his torso. He immediately looked down and saw a grocery cart. Slowly, his eyes traced its figure to replace out who was pushing it and caught sight of those familiar electric blue eyes. He felt his heart jump out of his chest when he realized who those eyes belonged to.

"...Or not," he heard the eyes' owner mumbled quietly, looking at him with innocent eyes.

So Toshiro wasn't lying, after all. He could confirm it. He wanted to reach his arms out and hold her, but then Lazarus' words came across his mind. Explain yourself to her.

But the pain from three years came back fresh, and his pain became a fuel to anger. He previously thought of explaining to her, but his anger surged to the things she did to get back at him, which prompted their relationship to completely fall out. Those times when she let the others touch and caress her when she promised that she would only be his. She dumped him over a mistake that she wouldn't let him explain. Unforgivable.

He curled his lips to one side into a leer and spoke, "Hello, baby girl."

**

Thank you for reading Bubble Gum Kisses! To keep up with my works, future works, and endless frustrations on Twitter: https://twitter.org/RiosMorpheus**